Bentley Continental Flying Spur

It's all about being special.

Twenty years ago most of the limited-production, big-money nameplates--Aston Martin, Bentley, Lamborghini, Maserati, Rolls-Royce--were stand-alone, distinct companies. They were terribly special. And for the most part, they were also simply terrible. A mid-'80s Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit could best be described as a really bad Lincoln Town Car with great paint and gorgeous upholstery.

Now all these automakers have been absorbed by various automotive giants. By any objective measure, the resulting cars are infinitely better for it. But are they still special?

A case in point is this new Bentley Continental Flying Spur. Bentley has been owned by the Volkswagen Group since 1999, and the Flying Spur is the second Bentley created since the VW purchase. The first was the wildly successful Continental GT, a two-door coupe that was introduced last year and is selling nearly 5000 copies around the world.

The Flying Spur is essentially the four-door version of the GT. In addition to two more doors, it gets another 12.6 inches in wheelbase and 19.8 inches in length, transforming the coupe's rather tight rear compartment into the Spur's limolike seating area. Its base price is similar to the Continental GT's, a suitably exclusive $171,285.

Both vehicles are based on the Volkswagen Phaeton, the über -sedan that has drawn so few buyers it's being withdrawn from the U.S. market. That failure, however, is no reflection on the car's mechanical underpinnings, which are common with the two Bentleys.

The cars all share a rigid steel structure that provides firm mounting for a fully modern independent suspension, sophisticated air springs and computer-controlled shock absorbers, and state-of-the-art brakes and electronic chassis controls.

Power comes from a turbocharged version of the W-12 engine used in the top-of-the-line Phaeton and Audi A8. Under the influence of 10.1 pounds of boost pressure, this 6.0-liter engine develops 551 horsepower at 6100 rpm and 479 pound-feet of torque, which starts at a low 1600 rpm. The engine-management computer regulates this boost pressure to keep peak torque unchanged all the way to 5100 rpm, probably to avoid stripping the teeth off the gears in the six-speed ZF transmission. With a stronger gearbox, the engine could probably muster another 100 pound-feet without difficulty.

Even so, this powertrain endows the Flying Spur with performance that belies its 5580-pound weight. Our car lunged from a stop to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds, hit 100 barely seven seconds later, and reached 150 in a total of 29 seconds (all those figures are better than those of the Bentley Continental GT we tested in August 2004 ["Euro Fancy Coupes"]). With one exception, only a handful of dedicated sports sedans can better this performance, and they are all smaller and considerably less luxurious than the Flying Spur.

The exception is the Mercedes S600. The last-generation big Benz edges the Bentley by a few 10ths to 60 mph and by 0.6 second in the quarter. The higher-performing AMG version of this car, the S65, is quicker still, and both these Benz luxo-sedans feel even more responsive than the Flying Spur because they weigh some 800 pounds less and have a torque advantage of more than 100 pound-feet.

But like all Mercedes cars, even these most powerful S-class models are electronically governed to a top speed of 155 mph, whereas the Flying Spur runs freely to 195, according to Bentley. We were unable to verify that claim, but based on tests of the Continental GT, which has been reliably clocked at between 198 and 200 mph, we have no reason to doubt it.

This flashy number allows Flying Spur owners to brag about owning the world's fastest sedan, even if only a tiny percentage will ever explore such lofty velocities. Moreover, serious speed is in keeping with Bentley's performance heritage, which includes five Le Mans wins in the 1920s, as well as another in 2003, achieved with a machine that, in modern fashion, shared its platform with the all-conquering Audi R8.

Tires that can survive a near-200-mph pace while supporting a vehicle with a laden weight of nearly three tons are necessarily rather stout and usually deliver an unforgiving ride. The Yokohama Advan Sports on the Flying Spur, however, collaborate with the air springs and computer-controlled shock absorbers to deliver a comfortable, quiet ride on good asphalt pavement. Road noise does become more prominent on concrete freeways, and the tires won't absorb every little bump and divot the car encounters. But the ride will not be a shock to anyone who has spent time in high-performance sedans. And wind noise is exceptionally low. At 100 mph, the driver can converse with rear-seat passengers without anyone raising a voice.

The comfortable ride is all the more remarkable because the Flying Spur's rubber also delivers enough grip to corner at 0.86 g and stop from 70 mph in 167 feet. That grip, combined with the Flying Spur's thrust, translates into a car that can eat up a winding road at terrific speed. The Bentley is too big and heavy to toss sideways into corners and smoke the tires on the exits. But when you drive it in a tidy fashion and make good use of the paddle shifters to manually select your gears, the Flying Spur can charge up or down a mountain at a clip rapid enough to justify its connection with the Bentley racing bloodline. In the process you enjoy a nicely tuned exhaust burble that is subdued but has more character than most turbocharged engines produce.

Of course, the Flying Spur will spend the vast majority of its time in workaday urban and suburban driving, where its occupants will be more concerned with comfort, utility, and luxury amenities than awe-inspiring speed. From the driver's vantage, the Bentley delivers on these fronts. The seat is multifariously adjustable, well shaped, and padded. The driving position is excellent, as is all-around visibility.

Just about every interior surface, including the headliner, is leather lined and beautifully fitted. The steering wheel alone requires five hours of hand stitching. The wood veneers are mirror-matched, meaning that each wooden panel is a mirror image of its opposite on the other side of the car. The vent registers, the shift knob, and the various dashboard knobs have the deep gloss and high thermal conductivity that are the unmistakable signs of metal rather than plastic construction. Many of the knobs also have sharp-edged machined knurling to further emphasize that point. You simply don't get such sumptuous details in even the top-of-the-line luxury Jags, Benzes, and Bimmers.

Of course, the Bentley does suffer from the unfortunate "German disease" of overly complex and nonintuitive controls. You can't even change a radio station, adjust the climate controls, or activate the rear defroster until you pretend to have read the legalese that comes up on the main screen every time you start the car. But the Flying Spur isn't the worst in this regard, because it at least has discrete knobs for radio volume and tuning.

The main reason to choose the Flying Spur over the two-door Continental GT is to get a back seat useful to adults, and space is certainly generous back there. Headroom and legroom are immense, with nearly six inches between the headliner and the scalp of an average adult male. However, the seat cushion is surprisingly low and short, so you end up with most of your weight on your behind. In such a cavernous compartment, a longer and higher rear seat would make better use of the space.

We have a few other nits to pick. In a $170,000 car, it would be nice to have a DVD-based nav system rather than the CD-based one that requires shuffling discs during a long trip. We'd also expect at least the availability of satellite radio and a rear-compartment video player. But we were more than satisfied by the fidelity of the standard 12-speaker audio system.

More important, we were delighted by the widespread respect and notice the Bentley garnered. The rear-compartment stretch was accomplished very successfully, with no attempt made to retain the muscular rear haunches of the Continental GT. Instead, the Flying Spur has beautiful full-length character lines that are undeniably elegant and devoid of the discordant surfaces we see on so many newer luxury sedans.

Classy styling, a flashy top speed, distinctive interior luxury, and the exclusivity of the Bentley badge in a package that is an excellent and rapid luxury sedan by any measure--that's what your 170 grand buys you in the Continental Flying Spur. Were we interested and able to pay a serious premium for special, we'd say this car qualifies.

TONY SWAN

Our man Webster thinks no one should pay more than $30,000 for a car, which excludes, one presumes, expenditures made in support of a club-racing habit. But it's a policy that would eliminate motor cars such as this one, and what kind of world would we have without these sublime automotive confections? Big, handsome, and potent, the Flying Spur isn't quite as sexy as the GT coupe, but its interior appointments are tastefully sumptuous, there's room in back for NBA-size passengers, and it's tough to top for sheer lordly presence. In the rarefied realm of automobiles that cost as much as houses, this is one of the rare ones that actually seem to be worth the money.

AARON ROBINSON

Nobody who has burned gas in a Flying Spur will doubt that it represents for VW and whatever part of Bentley that isn't VW an engineering sockeroo. An engine filling just half a compartment makes twice the power needed to pulverize a speed limit. The car's weight seems immunized from physics by its tires and suspension. As for myth making, there's still learnin' to do. Example: The chromed bolts in the intake manifold are stamped with "Bentley." Fabulous, but who will notice? Yet steering-wheel buttons and console displays are scrawled with the same plain font as a Jetta's. When stitching emperor's clothes, put the polyester where it won't be noticed.

BARRY WINFIELD

It's hard not to be impressed by a two-and-a-half-plus-ton car that can rocket to 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds. Or reach 170 mph in about a mile and go on to a top speed near 200 mph. But the real-world issues eventually puncture this happy high-tech bubble, particularly at 45 mph on the 405 freeway. Then the Bentley is just another car in the sluggish stream of commuters. That's also when the tautly sprung, highly pressurized (49 psi) front tires slam over bumps as if they were concrete and when the nonlinear throttle response and giant brakes call for delicate driving to prevent sudden surges. The 170-grand sticker aside, that's my excuse for not buying one.

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